With Dengue assuming almost epidemic proportions in provisional State Capital, the children studying in different schools here have come under direct threat of the disease. Incidentally, Dehradun is known for its famed schools and students from all parts of the country are studying in them. With incidents of dengue and other seasonal fever increasing alarmingly in last few days, the attendance in many schools has dropped.
On Saturday, a claim was made in some social media platforms that at least 100 children in one of the famed school of Dehradun have fallen ill. Alarmed by the claim, the district health department sent its team to Welham Boys School, Welham Girls School and Brightsland School on the day. The team, however, found that the claim was false.
The Chief Medical Officer (CMO) of Dehradun, Dr S K Gupta, said that a team comprising of Additional CMO Dr N K Tyagi, Epidemiologist Dr Piyush and Vector Borne Diseases Officer J P Bahuguna visited these schools. He said that the team found two students suffering from fever in Welham Boys schools. Dr Gupta said that the claim of children felling ill, on large scale, was wrong. Meanwhile, the student attendance in all schools in the district is witnessing a sharp drop these days. “In my class, 15-20 percent students are absent these days. Almost all of them are said to be suffering from fever,’’ said a teacher of a renowned school.
Why children are more susceptible to Dengue
Tiger mosquito (Aedes Aezypti), the vector of the disease strikes during the daytime when the students are in the schools. Apart from being active during daytime, the Tiger mosquito targets the exposed body parts like hands, legs and neck.
It is worth mentioning here that the students are donning summer uniforms these days which comprise half sleeve-shirts, shorts/skirts which mean that the kids are more prone to the mosquito bites. Though the district education department has issued a circular to the schools asking them to ensure that the students wear full sleeved cloths to minimise chances of mosquito bite, many schools are not following it. Incidentally, the Raipur road area of the city that has majority of the popular private schools of Dehradun in its vicinity is one of the worst affected areas.
Dalanwala area in Raipur houses famous schools like Doon Girls school, Welham Boys school, Welham Girls school, Doon International school, Indian Cambridge School, Sliver Oak School, Brightlands School, Hillgrange school, Summer valley school and Col Browns Cambridge .
Dengue continues its upward journey
The menace of dengue is showing no sign of abating in Dehradun as eight new cases of the disease were reported by district health department of Dehradun on Saturday. With them, the dengue toll in Dehradun has mounted to 668.
The district vector-borne diseases officer, Subhash Joshi, said that teams of health department and Municipal Corporation of Dehradun (MCD) are visiting the affected areas and activities like fogging and spread of insecticides are being undertaken apart from spreading awareness on preventive measures to be adopted for the disease.
He said that 21 teams of health department are active in field and are engaged in source reduction of the disease.